The Challenge of the Transparent Interface,
Abstract
A triumvirate exists between our mindware, which is the mental circuits we possess, our mindset, which results from training and experience, and the hardware which is used to sense and present information to the operators of modern machines. The term 'mindware' is used in this paper to denote the various faculties with which the human mind is equipped to sense, perceive, think, and remember, and the mechanisms it has for organizing and effecting control of our muscles. The term 'mindset' here refers to the frame of mind, or sensitivity we impose on that mindware as a result of training and experience. Mindset also includes the habits and disciplines that we have acquired, as well as our skills and prejudices. To be sure, the mindware and the mindset interact considerably upon each other, but the distinction in terminology is intended to describe the generic difference between what we come equipped with as a genetic inheritance as opposed to what we learn to do with that equipment through the course of our lifetime. The term 'hardware' is intended to apply to the technical means used to present a person with synthesized information. If a pilot is flying under visual flying rules (VFR), and is looking at the ground, he is using his unaided sense, which rely solely on his mindware and mindset. However, if he studies the ground as depicted on his radar screen, he is also using hardware to do this task.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 01, 1987
- Accession Number
- ADP005582
Entities
People
- Richard Malcolm